Devotional Thoughts for the Sunday of the Blind man

Reading: From the Gospel according to St. John 9: 1-41

Dear and Respected Brethren,

Our Holy Church is celebrating the 36th day of the Holy Great Lent as the Church day or the Catholicate day, across the globe. It is very meaningful to dedicate one whole day as the church day, when and where we would consider the Church as the divine body of Christ, our Savior. It is the day to remember how our Lord was interested in the establishment of our Church by the hands of St. Thomas, where as our Lord did not interfere anywhere else like this. (All other Apostles set apart on their own initiative to the countries where they had to work, as and when it was decided by the lots. And when St. Thomas was wandering through the streets of Jerusalem in great despair, our Lord appeared to him and encouraged St/ Thomas

to work in India and to bring up the Church) We often hear/talk about the St. Thomas tradition and heritage. Let us try to see what it is.  St. Thomas was the first among the mankind to address our Lord as “My Lord and My God.” It is a great privilege for the children of St. Thomas tradition.  As far as we are concerned this heritage would be complete when we might complete the saying of our Patron Saint by adding the following words: “Lord have mercy on us.” In other words we are supposed to recite and pray always whenever we could, “My Lord and my God have mercy on us.” Our link with our Lord God is the first symbol of St. Thomas heritage or the Marthoma heritage. Secondly our attempts to attain spiritual growth would be perfect as and when we would intercede for our clergy as they do regularly. The mutual prayers and mutual intercessions of the clergy as well as the faithful are the charms of our worship and spirituality. We should not forget that our clergy, from the Pontiff to the youngest priest do seek the intercession of the laity/faithful three times publicly during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in addition to so many indirect requests. This shows that the mutual prayers and concerns during and after our worships are essential to make them holy and divine. On the Church day we have to remember all the clergy and submit them before God, in addition to the daily routines. The celebrant disperses the congregation after the celebration of the Holy Eucharist by exhorting to pray for them forever.  Do we remember them until and unless we meet them again? Thirdly the day stands to thank God for the liberty of the Church, integrity, autonomy etc. As we all know, our Church was an independent Church initially until it came under the domination and governance of the foreign Churches, as our mother country fell under the dominations of various foreign countries one after the other. Our Church could retain its freedom after fights with the foreign Churches, in a way or the other, for a long time. And finally the Catholicate was established in the year 1912, As we all know the Holy Church is celebrating this year as the centenary year of the establishment of the Catholicate in India. It is mainly to declare the importance and significance of the Catholicate in our Church.  Let us pray for the Church and the Catholicate, so also for the Catholicoses, Holy Synod and the entire clergy, in addition to the entire laity.

In today’s reading we find our Lord curing a blind person, who was blind from birth. Our Lord might have initiated to cure him to teach a lesson. While seeing the blind, the Apostles asked our Lord: “Master who did the sin, this man or his parents.” The answer of our Lord was: neither has this man sinned, nor his parents. But the works of God should be manifest in him.”  When the man got eye sight the entire Pharisees and Sadducees got annoyed. They started questioning the man, his parents not only once, but for two three times. In Verse 27 of today’s reading we listen to the answer of the man who got back his eye sight. He asked them whether they were interested to join Him as his disciples. He was bold enough to answer so. When he continued his answers he said “If this man was not of God, he could do nothing.” Though the Jews did not want to hear that Lord Jesus was from true God, the man who was cured by the hands of the Lord boldly declared that Lord Jesus is from true God.

Let us think whether we could give such a strong appreciation about our Lord God if there is a need? We have died with Him and resurrected with him through the baptism and we were having His divine flesh and blood as our spiritual nutrition. Still would we able to confess about our Lord God in such a clear confession? The man had an acquaintance with our Lord for a few seconds; still he could confess a convincing statement about our Lord. Let us pray for more strength and spiritual maturity in us.

May God bless us all

Jose Kurian Puliyeril

Kottayam